Watchdog deplores Libya’s ‘almost impossible’ media environment

TRIPOLI, Libya – Working as a journalist in Libya has become nearly “impossible” as lawlessness and impunity has brought hostility to journalists to new heights, Reporters Without Borders said Sunday, February 17.

“The situation of freedom of information is dramatic,” the global press watchdog said in a report released jointly with fellow campaign group the Libyan Center for Freedom of the Press.

Covering the news “has become an almost impossible mission… (because) hostility against media and journalists has reached new heights.”

Crimes against media workers take place in “silence and the criminals enjoy total impunity,” the report said.

The report was released to mark the 8th anniversary of the 2011 NATO backed uprising that toppled and killed Moamer Kadhafi.

Since then, at least 19 journalists have been killed while there have been “several cases” in which journalists were abducted, tortured or forcibly disappeared, the report said.

Libya has been mired in chaos since veteran dictator Kadhafi’s fall, as two rival administrations and numerous militias grapple for power.

Libya ranks 162nd out of 180 in the 2018 Word Press Freedom Index established by Reporters Without Borders. – Rappler.com